I've promised myself I'll wait untill I've read three more on my TBR pile first . We'll see what happens , LOL !
Today is Canada Day and I just finished a book
The Brutal Heart by a Canadian author
Gail Bowen with a Canadian location, Regina Saskatchewan. Now I am going to Sweden with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Everyone has said how good it is so I look forward to it.
The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
The Hunger Games (second copy),
Graceling (second copy),
Coraline by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell (graphic novel version - liked the original), and
What Narcissism Means to Me by
Tony Hoagland (good poet).
My original copies of the first two went out the door on loaners and never found their way back.
Message edited by its author, Jul 1, 2009, 6:16pm.
I have some books to list, though I got them in June. Will do it later on.
From 2 very special LT friends(thank you both!):
Shake the Devil Off by
Ethan Brown This sounds like a hard-hitting non-fiction read, right up my alley!
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Opinions on LT seem to be divided on this one but I need to find out myself.
From the library:
Crazy For the Storm by
Norman Ollestad. I forgot I requested this new release but it looks very promising! More hard-hitting non-fiction?
I got my package from Amazon today!
Sacred Hearts by
Sarah Dunant, looking forward to it, I loved the previous ones
The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters, I need my Amelia Peabody fix, comfort reading at its best
The Summer Garden, by Paullina Simons recently I found out that the there was another book to the Alexander and Tatiana story, so I had to have it
and one that I had to buy another copy, because the first one had a printing error
The Priestess of the White by
Trudy Canavan*small note: the packaging on Amazon.uk is getting worse at every package I get, my poor books were swimming in the package tsk tsk...
My birthday present from my mom arrived today. She bought me a new computer. Yay! I haven't hooked it up yet, and there's a TON of data to transfer from this one to the new one. I'll probably be spend the next week or two doing all that. I can't wait to get the new one up and running! :-D
from BM:
Crimson City by Liz Maverick
I also need ot get a new bookcase for all the books all over my desk.
Well yesterday i was bad again and fell prey to the 3for2 offers at Waterstones and bought
Shadow's Edge and
Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks and The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko to finish off their respective series'
Today my amazon package arrived to my utmost glee. In it was
Pagan in Exile and
Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks, unfortunately the latter was the American publication so the covers don't match :(
Hopefully i can be good for a while and *not* buy anything but i'm doubtful of my success.
Nothing noteworthy. Yesterday this thread had started; there was a DVD in the mail but no book. So I printed out some Borders coupons and spent the time between my haircut and my tooth cleaning browsing and buying. I had kinda thought that I would buy one of the volumes of the
Memoirs of the Duc de Saint Simon which I had seen on their shelf, but they weren't there. I bought one CD and a stack of DVD's besides the books, which are:
A Guide Book of United States Coins, 2010 by R. S. Yeoman. I haven't been buying many coins recently, but I like to pick this up every couple of years to keep in touch.
The World of the Golden Compass edited by
Scott Westerfeld. I read
His Dark Materials and found it entertaining but not substantial. I read it because it was reported on LibraryThing that churches were urging their members to stay away from the movie. I really liked the alethiometer (I'd like to have one, even a high quality counterfeit), so I bought this book. The will-I-like-it meter says that I will not like this book.
Palace Council by Stephen L. Carter. I liked Stephen Carter's books before he turned to fiction. I liked his
Emperor of Ocean Park and have his
New England White so with this and the coin book on the buy one get one half off table I thought I'd better pick it up in case I ever have the time to read a novel.
A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume. I'm overdue for some reading in
Hume, and it was time to buy one of his books. This is the book I used my coupon on.
By now there are probably no more than five or six thousand books that I need but don't own.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Jul 2, 2009, 5:45pm.
I had never even heard of the Blondie book. Now it's on my Barnes and Noble wishlist. It would be nice if I could find it on a bargain table. Thanks crazy4reading.
Robert
Poirot Investigates by
Christie arrived from BookMooch. Then I went to Border's to meet a friend for coffee and picked up
Artemis Fowl. So much for not buying books until the fall. I think I've been bringing home more than ever since I made that promise.
On a happy note, my friend brought me my book of P.G. Wodehouse stories that I lent her about 4 months ago. I was almost giving up hope.
Robert,
I hope you can find Blondie on clearance too. I bought it at Borders and I just couldn't resist it. I love that comic and now I have so many of them in just one book.
Monica aka crazy4reading
I went to B&N today while my daughter went shopping at the mall. I bought a bunch of sale books there too. I will add them later on. I am now done buying, yeah right...
I came here to post the books I bought today, but I saw McKait's post about Bookcloseouts - the good news is that I saved $150.00 on my purchases and I have 11 books on their way - the bad news is I have to find a place to put them!
Meanwhile, I went shopping at Chapter's earlier today and came home with:
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer
Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland
Zulu Hart by Saul David
ACK ! Border's $4 bins sucked me in ! I broke down and bought a fic called
The Fiction Class .
28> That happened to me on Friday but I bought more then one book. I found some for $1 and I just couldn't pass them up.
Here is what I bought at B&N yesterday, all from the clearance section.
Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums (the cover got me with the little boy and the baseball glove, then I read the back and decided I needed to buy it)
Body Scissors by Michael Simon (signed copy for $4.98)
Death Dance by Linda Fairstein (started reading in the store and didn't want to stop.)
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (Made into a movie and I am trying to read most of the books made into movies)
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (On an Agatha Christie binge)
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie
Okay I am staying out of book stores for a while...
Happy 4th and Happy reading!!
My first July update. I got books from B&N and Borders.
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich, Humor/Mystery
This is the 14th book in the
Stephanie Plum series. It is about trying to find the stolen money from a bank robbery, and the kooks who keep popping up looking for it. It has many of the usual characters, and is a fun story.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Classic
I picked up a cheap B&N edition. I have never read it, and am interested. Historical Fiction with an anti-slavery message.
Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs, Mystery
This is the 11th book in the
Temperance Brennan series about a forensic anthropologist who splits her time working for the Coroner's office in Montreal, and teaching at a university in the southern US. This book is about human bones and ritual paraphernalia found with them in North Carolina. Another dead body with satanic symbols is found. Local bigoted officials want to blame a Wiccan group and Tempe is called in.
Imperial woman by Pearl S. Buck, Historical Fiction
Story of the last Empress of China.
Demon of Dakar by Kjell Eriksson, Swedish Mystery
Book 7 of the
Ann Lindell series. Another Swedish mystery. She is a police officer on the Uppsala police force. This is the 3rd book translated into English (#4,#6,#7).
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Swedish Mystery
Another Swedish mystery, LT inspired.
Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst, Mystery/SFF
A book about a young cop in Colma, California. He discovers he has the ability to see and interact with ghosts. Colma houses the cemetery for Los Angeles, so it has more of the dead than the living.
Bangkok Dragons, Cape Cod Tears by Randall Peffer, Mystery
Book 2 in the
Cape Islands mystery series. A gender bending series that hops from Bangkok to the Cape. I liked the cover and the title and the description, so I picked it up. I also have ordered book 1.
Message edited by its author, Jul 6, 2009, 1:25pm.
Now I know that I am capable of going into a book store, wandering around, and not buying something, either because I don't see anything that really sparks my interest or because I'm not in the mood. Unfortunately, today was not that day. The plan was to drop in, wander around,
not buy anything, and then go to Starbucks and reward myself with an iced tea. Instead, the following books rudely attacked me and made me carry them home (along with an iced tea):
Battle Cry of Freedom which comes highly recommended on LT and which I purchased even though McPherson is not a favorite of mine
The Downhill Lie because Hiaasen is hysterically funny and could only be more so when describing his attempt at playing golf
Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2009, 3:59pm.
I've got the new computer set up and running and got the old one set up in the living room for the kids. Then ran into a problem. Apparently, while my cable acct says I get two lines, there's only one hole on the back of the modem. So, either I get a splitter and run 2 computers on it, which probably won't work, or I have to go get a new modem for in there and pay an extra 4 dollars a month. Nothing's ever easy.
While getting the hardware at Wal-mart, I snuck by the books and picked up a couple books I was looking at the last time I was there.
Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio by Brian Jennings ~ someone sent me an email about this topic the other day, so when I saw the book, I figured I should read it.
Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an OUt-Of-Control Governtment, Inspired by Thomas Paine by Glenn Beck ~ My brother's a big Glenn Beck fan and I'll pass it on to him when I'm done, along with
An Inconvenient Book.
edited to add: I forgot to mention the ARC I got:
The Rapture by Liz Jensen
Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2009, 4:03pm.
koolmom
I chose that one too, from Amazon vine..
The Rapture that is...I also have The Birthing House which is the one I am
reading now.. first..
please keep me posted on how you like The Rapture , okay?
35> Narika, that's one of my favorite books! I hope you enjoy it.
My TBR shelf hit less than 10, and since no bookstore within two hours of me had Rachel Vincent's Prey, I took my husband's advice, and bought it online. And since you find the best deals online, I went a little crazy, and bought 13 more! It was going to be 21 more, but at that point the shipping was more than my order...
1. Prey by Rachel Vincent
2. The Forest of Eyes and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
3.
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
4.
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert - repurchase
5.
Weregirls: Birth of the Pack Petru Popescu
6.
Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C Wrede
7.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
8.
Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
9.
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
10.
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
11.
Lover Eternal by JR Ward
12.
Lover Awakened by JR Ward
13.
Lover Revealed by JR Ward
14.
Evermore by Alyson Noel
Message edited by its author, Jul 6, 2009, 1:19am.
36> Im looking forward to reading it. I just need to finish the other two books I've started first.
Stopped at B&N tonight. Picked up
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
On Saturday i stopped by the library (since i'm forbidden from entering the bookstore until i get payed) and came out with two books:
Born to be Riled by Jeremy Clarkson and
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I really want to make sure i read both of these cos i would hate to have to take Jamaica Inn back unread because I've avoided it all month in favour of easier reads.
Today, in the mail, I received The Color Purple by Alice Walker from Powells.com.
Although I prefer new copies of books I could not bring myself to buy a copy of The Color Purple that announced on the cover that it is now a popular Broadway musical. Somehow, that just spoiled the cover for me.
I have nothing against musicals - and nothing against musicals being based on good books - just doesn't seem right to me, though.
"oh touchstones . . . . . . "
Message edited by its author, Jul 7, 2009, 12:37am.
JolieLouise- I hate editions that have a movie tie-in cover as I can't stop seeing the actors face as the character. The only tie-in I haven't objected to was
Fight Club because, well...it's Brad Pitt.
Mstrust - LOL!
I went to a wedding over the weekend and as a parting gift to the guests, the bride, who works for a publishing house, put books on each table in the cocktail area for all the guests to pick and take home. Isn't that a great idea?! So I picked The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and my husband picked
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse for me. He prefers non-fiction, so he was happy to pick out something that he knew I would like for me.
odd that the touchstone for the Musketeers isn't working.
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren hopped into my basket today during my lunch break and came home with me.
Feeling guilty about the massive amount of unread books in my house, today I got
Book Smart and
501 Great Writers anyway. Books about books, just what I need.
I brought home
The Deliverer by
Linda Rios-Brook. I did not realize that it was book two of The Reluctant Demon Diaries until I got to the cash register. I am banned from buying more books until I read the storage tub of unread books in my room. I sneaked this one in. Now to sneak in book one.
To be honest doc, I was avoiding it. No, can't explain it. I will see about reading soon... Why did you like it so much?
I am now reading a novel of Paulo Coelho, titled: "The Devil and Miss Prym".
It is a very enlightening novel, I learn a lot from reading it and also from reading Paulo Coelho's novels.
I actually just finished his novel, 'The Witch of Portobello".
Good read. :)
#57: The main character, a recent immigrant to the US from Ethiopia, was a very likable and a sympathetic character, and the author did a nice job of describing his loneliness and his efforts to fit into a foreign culture. The relationship with his neighbor and her daughter was very touching as well. Even though I read the novel over two years ago I can alsmost remember it as if I had just finished it.
All About Tea, which doesn't seem to be the one in the touchstones as I can't find the author of the book anywhere. It's credited to Marshall Cavendish Cuisine Publishing and has a beautiful photo of a Middle-Eastern silver cup of tea on the cover.
60: I loved both Fruits Basket and Speak! I'm told the movie adaptation is pretty good, though I haven't seen it myself...
I am such an American...ordered many more books today, and I've only received one from the list I posted earlier this week.
Need by Carrie Jones
Schuyler's Monster by Robert Hummel-Hudon - found this linked off of Neil Gaiman's blog
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Howling at the Moon by Karen MacIerney - I ordered the wrong book last order!
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Vacations from Hell - an anthology
Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
On the whole, this was me picking up
Need &
Howling at the Moon, which I didn't order last time, and then going overboard on picking up books I've been meaning to for years.
I really need to curb this retail therapy addiction. In the meantime, I think I've completely filled my TBR bookshelf again!
I have a similar books
O Livro do Chá/The Book of Tea by J Duarte Amaral and Pequeno Tratado do Chá /Little Treaty on Tea by
Brochard Gilles (also not listed) love books on tea the history and philosophy tell us about this one.
A copy of
The Black Album by Hanif
Kureishi was in the mail when I returned to Atlanta this evening. I'm going to see the play based on this book at the National Theatre in London next month, and wanted to read it beforehand.
My latest listing of books,
First from Borders and the next 3 from B&N.
Riders of the Storm by Julie Czerneda, SF
Book 2 in the
Stratification series. A space opera that looks at a group from a previous series who have been uprooted and scattered. They are trying to come back together.
City of Souls by Vicki Pettersson, Urban Fantasy
Book 4 in the
Signs of the Zodiac series. Set in Las Vegas and magical spaces, it deals with a battle between good and evil.
Precious Dragon by Liz Williams, Fantasy
Book 4 in the
Detective Inspector Chen series. Set in the future in a franchized city, Singapore 3. It deals with the interaction between earth and heaven and hell (Chinese versions). Lots of good characters, wonderful setting with lots of Chinese mythology.
Vicious Circle by Mike Carey, Urban Fantasy
Book 2 in the
Felix Castor series. Set in London follows an exorcist who is having issues with his ability and unexpected consequences.
The following are books I ordered on-line. I went a little crazy the books are used from Amazon Marketplace, but so far I have been very lucky - they all look new.
Centuries of Darkness by Peter James, Non-Fiction
Looks at the chronology of history in the old world - Near East, Mediterranean, Bible, to see if the timeline might actually be different.
Heroes: Gods and Kings by L.R. Brown, Historical Fiction
This is a self-published book that looks at the relationship between Alexander the Great and Hephaestion. Given the subject I decided to risk it.
The Angry Clam by Erik Quisling, Humor
Very short book that has spare text and illustrations regarding a pissed off mollusk.
The Twice Born by Pauline Gedge, Historical Fiction
Start of new series set in ancient Egypt,
The King's Man about a young man who becomes a a seerer. It was published in Canada and may only be available in the US, on-line.
The Plague and I by Betty MacDonald, Non-Fiction
First published in 1948. It is the memoir of a woman who is diagnosed with tuberculoses and has to enter a sanatorium. Although she doesn't know if she will survive, she uses humor to deal with it. I saw this on LT.
A Needle in the Right Hand of God by R. Howard Bloch, non-Fiction
A book that looks at the Norman Conquest and the making of the Bayeux Tapestry. I have been watching this and waiting for it to go into paper. No such luck, so I got a used hardcover.
A couple on-line new books from the Book Depository in the UK
Crusade by Anselm Audley, Fantasy
Book 3 in the
Aquasilva trilogy. War, politics, religion and weather disturbances, set in a an aquatic kingdom and following a young man who is coming of age and has to deal with it.
The Spies of Sobeck by Paul Doherty, Historical Mystery
Book 7 in the
Amerotke series. Set in Ancient Egypt follows an investigator during the time of Hatshepsut.
Message edited by its author, Jul 11, 2009, 4:55am.
#30 FicusFan - I recently got
Uncle Tom's Cabin from BookMooch, then found a leather-bound hardcover at Habitat for Humanity - so now have two. It's my August BookClub and, also having never read it, am looking forward to it.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is absolutely stunning. I can't wait for
The Girl Who Played with Fire comes out at the end of July. I've been BookMooching and buying books at the thrift stores and not Amazoning it, but I had birthday money and couldn't resist pre-ordering it. Thank goodness for birthday money.
thekoolaidmom and mckait - I've just started my ARC of
The Rapture and am in love. It sucked me in in the first two paragraphs and I can't believe how wonderful this book is so far. I deliberately haven't read your "hot" review yet, mckait, but will check it out after I've written my own.
msf59 - I do hope you like
Uncivil Seasons. You'll have to let me know!
And, finally, yesterday was a day off without pay (boo flunk $$ wise, fantastic time wise). From the Habitat for Humanity Home Store and the Chatham PTA Thrift Store I bought
The Forge of God by
Greg Bear - usually don't go for SF so much but this sounded intriguing
The Grave Tattoo by
Val McDermid. The title was intriguing and the back cover blurb more so.
A Vision of Light by
Judith Merkle Riley because I hadn't heard of this one and I've loved every book of hers that I've read. A beautiful hardcover with perfect dust jacket and in excellent shape, published in 1989. Thank you previous owner!
Message edited by its author, Jul 11, 2009, 4:45am.
karen, I have the arc of
The Girl Who Played With Fire and have not been able to read it. it resists me. It is making me crazy because I owe a review....
ugh!
mckait - did you like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? If you did, I'm surprised Fire isn't grabbing you.
I know what you mean about books resisting you...
The Tory Widow did. I finally gave up after 114 pages, wrote a review of why I put it down, admitted that I put it down, and left it at that. Blech.
there is the problem you see....didn't read it... didn't want to.
I got this by accident..oops click :P
I'm definitely going to pre-order
The Girl who Played with Fire. It's been a slow reading week for me, but I'm loving The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is the perfect summer read (I've said that about 5 books, but I really, really mean it for this book). It's full of suspense and excitement, but the writing is very well done.
I also picked up the following at Costco today:
The Other Boleyn GirlPharmakonMists of Avalon is a book I had years ago and loaned it to someone and never got it back so had to buy myself a copy off ebay. I have read it quite a few times. I think I am like most people here not only addicted to reading but addicted to buying books, keep telling myself "Don't buy anymore til you have read at least some on the TBR list" but what can you do when you see a book sale?!
leonie23
nothing... that is why we all ended up here.
Aw shucks, Kath ;-}
Crow Lake is a good'un, as i recall
James Herbert is old-school horror...and he's either really good...or really schlocky...i own a couple of his "less worthies"...but then i like my Horror cheesy at times.....chacon a son gout...as the Frenchies say....YOU GO GIRL..that's from moi
J
jude ".but then i like my Horror cheesy at times"
me too :D
geez koolmom... an exploding fairy...
well I am going to refrain from comment on that one! and no reading my mind...!
Brought home
Equal Rights by Terry Pratchett. I may have to reorganize my to-read list. Again.
ROFL... mckait ;-) too late. I readz mindz :-o
#88: Is it that you don't know which McDevitt to begin with or that you literally can't find any nearby?
Thanks, DMO, #89. Plenty of McDevitt nearby - I don't know which one to begin with. When I browse, I have trouble finding one that grabs me.
86 koolmom...!!!!!!
I snagged an audio book copy of
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by
Muriel Barbery. I find it difficult to like, not merely for the fact that the content waxes philosophical every other chapter, but also due to the unmittigated existentialism presented via 12-yr-old. I'm halfway through but need some motivation.....
>99 I enjoyed The Known World, it was totally engrossing.
#96 too funny,
mckait! Your little pics and stuff always make me laugh :-)
I got three books in the mail yesterday:
Ranma 1/2, volume 1 by Rumiko Takahashi ~ My youngest tried to run off with this as soon as it was out of the package. I had to threaten not to share my
Fruits Basket books with her if she didn't bring it back. Sad when the parent is fighting with her kid over manga books.
The Host by Stephanie Meyer ~ not sure if I'm up to this one yet. I'm still disgusted with her after reading Breaking Dawn.
and I also got
The Daemon's Curse by Dan Abnett.
just got
Vampire Knight, volume 1 in the mail today. I've been looking up the term "Otaku" and wondering how far into it one has to go to receive that label... lol.
The Post Office never acknowledged having these in their possession, but they were in my mailbox from Barny Noble today.
Touchstones could be a lot better.
Dutch New York edited by
Roger PanettaThe Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto. When I was younger I was curious about all things including all cities. As I grew old I realized that some cities interested me more than others. If I were to read books about other cities, the books about the cities I care about might not get read before I die, so I narrowed the list. New York survived for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it's the captital of the world. Also I like it even if I haven't been there in forty years or so.
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. More New York. A reread of a book that impressed me in my youth. Mainly though, I recently read a happy book about Brooklyn (
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), and I thought this might provide good contrast -- a palate cleanser of sorts.
The Interrogation by J.M.G. Le Clezio. A novel chosen almost at random from among the Nobel Prize winner's works.
Night Train to Lisbon by
Pascal Mercier. Mostly well regarded here at LibraryThing, the novel's fans and enemies both made me think I would like to read this. The author is a philosopher, and there's supposed to be philosophy in the book; cool.
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. I have not read enough Dickens, and this has received favorable mention here and there. I plan also to get hold of
Bleak House and
A Tale of Two Cities.
Divine Beauty by
Daniel A. Dombrowski. Among other aims in retirement, I want to consider things that are far from the municipal bureaucracy workaday world. One that I mentioned soon after I retired was beauty, its notion and instantiation. In retirement I have read some about process philosophy and theology. This book is about the aesthetics of
Charles Hartshorne who can be understood to be
Alfred North White's successor.
The Craftsman by Richard Sennett. Not so long ago I reread
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and some other books around the book and the author's life as a subject; Robert Pirsig thought his book was about quality, including being careful of it in repairing motorcycles.
Shop Class as Soulcraft caught my eye and has favorable attention from others; I hope it expands on the subject, but I'll wait for the paperback to find out. Meanwhile this is out in paperback from Yale and has its supporters, so I got it.
The Migraine Brain by
Carolyn Bernstein and Elaine McArdle. I have some goofy experiences about which the neurologist used the word migraine only once; she more often mentioned atypical headaches. I didn't learn enough from her about what I'm suffering; I thought this might inform me, so I got it.
Meanwhile I already have enough books and not enough time. Golly!
Robert
107>
Vampire Knight is a fun story, semi-romance, semi-horror, semi-drama with a teeny bit of humor. I'm partial to Kaname myself. There is a anime of the series as well which is very well done. I'm not sure if it has been licensed for American release yet though.
Otaku...hmmm, I wonder if I fit the description myself. I'm guessing I'm at about 180+ manga volumes. It certainly applies when you start talking about
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles :-)
Message edited by its author, Jul 16, 2009, 4:59pm.
113> Roland, is the Swami Praghavananda authoritative?
I knew
John Holt. I've been kicking myself for not buying a volume of his memoirs at the recent Friends of the Library sale.
Specto
Message edited by its author, Jul 16, 2009, 7:47pm.
From Bookmooch (a special LT friend):
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell So much positive buzz on this one! Now I can experience it on my own!
Won in a Giveaway contest:
Worst Nightmares by
Shane Briant. Looks to be an interesting horror thriller! My wife plucked it from my hands and has been reading it ever since!
msf59- I had forgotten it, but now I remember hearing that the former actor
Shane Briant had become an author. If you're unfamiliar with his acting, he starred in a version of
The Picture of Dorian Gray and a couple of great Hammer films. I'll see if I can find one of his books.
Message edited by its author, Jul 16, 2009, 8:42pm.
Since the Harry Potter movie was released I haven't been able to get on here to add books or do anything. That always happens when an HP movie is released. Here are the books I have received this week. Now I will be able to get back to reading too.
Received this book I believe Monday. I won it through the Member Giveaway:
Three Men on a Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome
Now today delivered by UPS from another online friend:
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Cause of Death by Paricia Cornwell
Silent Night and All Through the Night by Mary Higgins Clark
I have been adding books and forgetting to list them. I went a bit nuts ordering books and they have come in (hooray). Of course that hasn't stopped me from raiding the local stores too.
Local BN & Borders
Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien, Non-Fiction
A look at the study of an owl who was injured and unable to be released. It also follows the relationship that developed between the Owl and the humans who cared for him, including his researcher.
The King's Shield by Sherwood Smith, Fantasy
Book 3 of the
Inda series. Maritime fantasy with pirates and magic.
Jhegaala by Steven Brust, SF-Fantasy
Book 11 of
Vlad Taltos series. Follows an assassin with a talking sword and a small personal dragon. He is on another planet and the humans are a minority, the majority are evolved beings who are dragon based.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, YA Fantasy
Book 7 and final in the
Harry Potter series.
Night of Knives by Ian C. Esslemont, Dark Fantasy
First book in the companion series to Steve Erikson's
Malazan series.
The Water Room by Christopher Folwer, Mystery
Book 2 in the
Bryant and May or
Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery series. A locked room mystery were the victim drowns. Uses the various forgotten rivers of London.
The Outcast Dove by Sharan Newman, Mystery
The 9th book in the
Catherine LeVendeur mystery series. I waited 6 years for this to go into paper !
It is set in 12th century France, and this one is about Catherine's secret Jewish cousins. The Church is oppressing the Jews, and Catherine's life and income is tied up with her cousins and their trading throughout Christendom.
These books are from the Bookcloseouts.com
Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas, Mystery
This is set in modern day Paris and is about rumors that the Black Plague has returned. It was getting good buzz on LT so I went for it.
Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough, Historical Fiction
Book 7 in the
Masters of Rome series. I got an Australian trade paperback. It is still in HC in the US.
From the Book Depository in the UK
The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan, Fantasy Noir
This is the start of a new series and his first fantasy. I can't wait to see his gritty, edgy, noirish take on fantasy. It is a mmpb and it won't be published in the US as a trade until 1/10. With no shipping charge it was still cheaper than waiting for a US trade.
Winterstrike by Liz Williams, SF
Not published in the US. About a peace mission from earth to Mars that goes horribly wrong.
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Speculative Fiction
Saw this on LT. Not published in the US. Set in Sweden looks at what happens when the dead return. Not so much horror as how society and families handle it, and scientists try to find a reason.
The Resurrectionist by James Bradley, Historical Fiction
Not published in the US. Set in London in 1826 it is about the body snatching that went on to supply medical schools with corpses to practice on. It has gotten poor reviews, but I am interested and decided to risk it.
Used books from Amazon Marketplace, though most look like they are new.
The City of Refuge by D.M. Wilder or Diana M. Wilder, Historical Fiction
A self-published book that is set in Amarna (ancient Egypt) after Akhenaten has fallen. May actually be a mystery. The setting enchanted me so I decided to risk it.
A Choice of Destinies by Melissa Scott, Alternate History
Story about Alexander the Great. What if he went west to Rome instead of east to India ?
City of God by Cecelia Holland, Historical Fiction
Set in renaissance Italy about the Brogias. Alex is Pope and Caesar and Lucretia are running around.
Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah, World Fiction
Story of young poor boy coming of age in East Africa. He leaves his port town and goes to live with his wealthy uncle in Nairobi.
Tolteca by K. Michael Wright, Historical Fiction
Story using myths and legends of the pre-Columbian Toltecs.
Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer, Historical Fiction
Set in Ancient Egypt. I have already read this, but somehoe lost my huge hardcover, so I replaced it with a huge mmpb.
Now I can go back to entering the rest of the books. Did I mention that I was very bad.
Here's my July haul so far:
Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Sista Hood On The Mic by E-Fierce
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Roots by Alex Haley
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Oh, Play That Thing by Roddy Doyle
Back to Wando Passo by David Payne
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates
Codex by Lev Grossman
Poems of the American Spirit, David S. Burr, Editor
The Secret Fruit of Peter Paddington (previously published as Fruit) by Brian Francis
Favorite Chili Recipes (can't wait to try the Cincinnati 5-Way Chili!)
From a Mangatude trade I received in the mail today volumes 1 and 2 of
Demon Diary.
I picked up four books from Borders this morning:
Hunger by
Knut Hamsun: recommended by kiwidoc, I'll read this instead of
Independent People for this month's Reading Globally theme read
A Moveable Feast by Ernest
Hemingway: the newly restored version, with additional entries, was released in the US earlier this week
Zeitoun by
Dave Eggers: another book that was released in the US a few days ago
Nostalgic Views of Atlanta: a small photo book co-produced by the Atlanta History Center and Borders, it was being sold for $1 at the check out counter
I was also pleased as punch to find the July/August issue of
World Literature Today, as my new subscription won't include this issue.
kidzdoc, although it may have been inappropriate for a polar read (Iceland is below the Arctic Circle), I think you're missing something if you don't read
Independent People. When my profile had greater decoration I listed it there as The Best Novel; I've read it twice very happily, and I personally know several others who have too.
Robert
After seeing this picture, my house doesn't look so bad:
I didn't get any new books today, but I had to share this :).
Amazing pic - but gotta ask, who would do that with books, even books that were in very bad repair or missing pages or . . . ? It literally hurts me to see that.
Went to B&N today and got:
The Outlander (I have it from the library, but won't have time to read it before it has to be back next week and I can't renew it, so . . .)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (okay, you all made me do this one)
The Blue Notebook (somewhere I saw the author (an M.D.) discussing why he wrote this book and decided I had to have it. I expect that it will be similar to
Sold by Patricia McCormick, a book I loved.)
I didn't intend to buy anymore books - but.....there was a "Sale" sign on the local bookstore window. So I brought home Innocence by Katleen Tesssaro and
The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy by
Mary Street. I'll just have to find someplace on the shelves to squeeze them in!
I had a coupon and a desire to overjustify going to that part of town, so from Barny Noble I bought:
A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement by Anthony Powell. I have to read this sometime. I have it somewhere, but I don't have any idea where. It was there at the store. An Everyman's or Modern Library collection of Camus disputed with it, and the Powell volume won the argument and came home.
I should be reading instead of shopping for books.
Robert
My question about the pic is, Are they all opened to her spot where she left off? LOL...
I got "Don't Forget to Sing in the Lifeboats." on Saturday and forgot to post it.
great photo!!
I took about a 6-month hiatus from doing serious reading (of course I still read 20-30 books) and/or collecting... but now I'm back in the groove. I'm not sure what was going on... some health things, and focusing on a new job probably.
Anyway... new this month
recieved in the mail today
Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston
ordered from Amazon over the weekend and should have by Friday:
Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart (looks very good),
Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer,
DNA Science: A First Course by David Micklos,
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, Until the Sun Comes Up by Karen Casselberry (hmm no touchstones for book or author, this book is for my wife, she went to school with the author)
what else?? Oh yeah, two terrarium books
Natural Terrariums and
The New Terrariumand assorted AP Biology textbooks (most of which I will sell).
Great Picture..if i could only get my books to stay on the walls without...well, how are they staying up there???
oh, today...two from the ATRIA Galley -Grab (via Shelf Awareness)...except i got Finished Hardcovers:
Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich
Sweet Mary by Liz Balmaseda
and a true ARC:
The Day The Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
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> 142 It would have more impact if you weren't in fact Klein attempting to fool people. You have done this before on other threads. Stop.
From Audible.com:
Peony in Love by Lisa See
From Open Letter Series:
Aracoeli by Elsa Morante
#143 - Ficus, if he is really fooling, I would flag him.
From Rainbow, Aiea, HI
The Shore Road Mystery by Franklin M. Dixon
The Bible by
Karen ArmstrongI gave both away within the week, but the armstrong is on my BTR list.
Armstrong to Maluhia Lutheran Churchʻs small, growing library (Waiʻanae HI); Dixon to the Waiʻanae Public Library.
I am about half way through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I love it. I have the
The Girl Who Played with Fire waiting patiently for me to finish Dragon. I can't wait.
The Used World: A Novel by Haven Kimmel just wandered in with the man in brown
From BookMooch I received
Heart of Stone by
C.E. Murphy. I have a soft spot for gargoyles for some reason, maybe left over from the Disney cartoon, so I'm excited to have picked this up.
I have a gargoyle. His name is Milton. He took a terrible fall in the spring, and his mending necessitated a paint job. He is now blue with a small hole in his head. Still....
Milton??? What a wuzzie name for a gargoyle! At the very least it should be a strong name like Richard or Jacob or even Spike or Archimedes (okay, that makes me think of the cute owl in Arthur, but still). Milton, REALLY???
Milton it is. He told me ...
I have 2 Gargoyles.. are you ready? Henry and BoBo. Strong names.. ? not really - but that is who they are :)
Whooops! Now i gotta get me a Gargoyle!!!! i have several prime spots, too......besides my front Dooorstep...
oh, today. two Book Mooches:
Vanity Fair...to replace my 30+ year old copy...it took a fall and the binding went...well...kerplooey.....
BLING by Erica Kennnedy...a frustrating Mooch since the Moochee's email address seems to be Invalid...and she never let me know she had sent the damned thing......long story short i had cancelled the mooch but gave her back her point this morning.....and i want to read the book, too!
............just one of those days.........
;-}
If I had a Gargoyle I'd name it Goliath....
I have a gargoyle my son made in pottery class at the YMCA camp when he was 7 it sits on my bookshelf... just observing....
I always wondered what the adults at the camp thought when he sculpted it....
My son named it Gus...
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore and ARC from vine...
Milton was a rescue. Someone at work had him and decided he was too much for her.. so..
If I bought a gargoyle it would be from
Toscano. I think they name some of theirs. I used to browse their catalogs for thrones.
I went to a cross town shopping center yesterday for three shirts, dinner, and a movie and hadn't used up all my time. So I browsed fiction at Barny Nobles; I hadn't done that in years because when I shop for novels I go for fiction that I've a mind to get. I surprised myself how time fled. Anyway, I got:
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. I read this originally when it first came out having read
V. I was disappointed then. I've seen that it is taught at colleges and wondered whether that was because it is short. It has gotten some good press, so I thought I would check whether my disappointment was my fault. I read a third of it last night and admire some of his deftness, but I haven't noticed any content so far.
Peyton Place by
Grace Metalious. I read this as a tyke. When I showed it to my mother she expressed antipathy towards my reading it, so I kept it under my mattress until I was done. We all read it with a lascivious eye back then. The author had apparently hoped to be writer, but when they wouldn't let her be one she committed suicide. I thought I'd give her a second chance, but I don't know when.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Jul 22, 2009, 6:50pm.
#165 - Robert, I remember wrapping my copy of Peton Place in a plain brown wrapper and hiding it from my mother. I know it was considered 'racy' way back in the day, but I actually don't remember anything too shocking about it! LOL
Today I brought home from the library All the King's Men by
Nigel McCrery. It's about King George V's Sandringham company that went into battle at Gallipoli and disappeared.
Message edited by its author, Jul 22, 2009, 11:12pm.
Updating my latest books added. I have one more from the UK, and the rest local at B&N and Borders.
White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison, Urban Fantasy
This is the book from Book Depository in the UK. It cost me $8.20 which is 21 cents more than if I WAITED until November 2009 for the pb to come out in the US.
It is book 7 of the
Rachel Morgan series. Best of the Anita-Blake wanna-bes (before she became a necro-slut).
Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill, Mystery
Book 5 in the
Dr. Siri Paiboun series. Set in the 1970s in the communist Laos. Siri is the national coroner , and a shaman. This story concerns Hmong villagers who kidnap Siri to exorcise the headman's daughter. The lone book from Borders. Couldn't convince B&N that the book had actually been released.
Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts, SF
Story about Stalin setting Russian writers to concoct stories of how aliens have invaded the West. The plan is to ridicule them. Suddenly the stories are shelved, and the writers hushed up. Could it be true ....
The Triumph of Caesar by Steven Saylor, Historical Mystery
Book 12 of
Roma Sub Rosa series. Gordianus is asked by Calpurnia to investigate a plot against Caesar. Oops
Arabesk by Barbara Nadel, Mystery
Book 3 of the
Inspector Ikmen series set in the modern day Turkey. It follows Istanbul police inspector Ikmenl. This book he is sidelined with ulcers and his subordinate Suleyman investigates the murder of a music star's wife.
Desolation Road by Ian McDonald, SFF
Book of short stories.
I am the Clay by Chaim Potok, Fiction
Story of an ill orphan and the family who helps him as they flee the conflict of the Korean war. The husband and wife also fight about whether or not to waste time and resources on him.
Aztec Fire by people who are not Gary Jennings, Historical Fiction
Book 5 in the
Aztec series. 2 or 3rd book to be written after his death. I can't help myself.
My stepmother gave me
The Witness of Combines by Kent Meyers. Will I ever get the chance to read it? Probably not. *sob* Anyone else ever get that dreadful, overwhelming feeling that you're so busy you might never read again?
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet arrived today. Ordering from B&N online is such a crapshoot. This book too is damaged. bent at the corners.I always swear never again, but? this time I mean it!!!!
They always blame it on the book being "bargain" this one was not. GRRRRRRRRRR
Message edited by its author, Jul 23, 2009, 3:42pm.
I had to stop at Costco for a cheesecake or some such for a potluck last night. I couldn't help going through the book section:
American Lion by Jon Meacham. I am hopeful of taking on the American 19th century soon (Howe's book will be out in paper not too long from now), and I want to know enough about Andrew Jackson to have my own opinion. He was a difficult character. Everybody but I, however, has a concrete view of whether he was good or bad.
Robert
i rejoined QPB....and got my first order yesterday:
My sister, My Love.....J C Oates
the flying troutmans.....Miriam Toews
The Plague of Doves.....Louise Erdrich (a favorite of mine for years)
The 19th Wife........David Ebershoff (lot of positive feedback here and on Good Reads...so.....)
The Hour I First Believed.......Wally Lamb (ditto as above)
and today from PBS:
Skin.........Kathe Koja (not for the faint-hearted or squeamish...but such delicious horror i have not encountered since first reading...)
;-}
I subscribe to a very conservative economics newsletter (gold standard conservative), and they send me books from time to time. Today there was Start Here: Getting Your Financial Life on Track. It says on the back cover that one should start early, but I am 64, so I may not get full use out of this book.
Robert
I am SO BEHIND with adding all the books that have come home with me - probably because it's a rate of at least one a day at the moment, it seems! I still have stacks from June AND July to add to my library, but I'll post here now so I don't keep losing the thread.
On top of the piles at home I just ordered a few books from Amazon Marketplace, and I'm trying to put together a huge order to spend my £130 amassed Amazon vouchers too... I'll try to be more prompt this time!
Yesterday I received a copy of
Desert by Jean-Marie Gustave
Le Clezio, which has been translated into English for the first time.
Message edited by its author, Jul 26, 2009, 9:04am.
I received
Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth in the mail yesterday.
My latest books entered. They somehow got out of order and this batch has my last books from the UK and the used ones I ordered from Amazon Marketplace. And one from Barnes & Noble .com (my first).
Line War by Neal Asher, SF
This is a book in the
Polity or
Ian Cormac series. It is Space Opera about conflict between humans (some modified) and crab like aliens. Seems not be available here in the US so I got it through Book Depository.com from the UK.
What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George, Mystery
This is book 14 in the
Havers/Lynley series. I found it on Bookcloseouts.com for a low price so I picked it up. It seems to be a controversial entry in the series, but I have started the series so I will need it eventually.
Provincetown Follies Bangkok Blues by Randall Peffer, Mystery
This is book 1 in
Cape Islands mystery. I got book 2 first and then had to find this one. It is my first book from B&N.com. It is used (though you can't tell). I got it through Better World Books, which I know some here use.
It ties Cape Cod and Bangkok, which intrigues me. It is also gender bending, and so its different, which interests me.
The rest are from Amazon Marketplace, they are used books, but don't look like it.
Centurion by Peter Mitsopoulos, Historical Fiction
This is probably a self-published book but I decided to risk it. It is about a Centurion in 9 AD, based on an actual incident. Set in Germany and Rome.
The Witches' Kitchen by Cecelia Holland, Historical Fiction
It is book 2 in the
Soul Thief series. It follows an Irishman as he deals with Vikings.
Walk With Peril by Dorothy V.S. Jackson, Historical Fiction
I saw this on LT. It is a novel of Henry V and Agincourt.
The Hollowing by Robert Holdstock, Dark Fantasy
I saw this on LT also. It is set in Mythago Wood and is about where Nightmares are born and live. It is book 4 in the
Ryhope Wood series.
The Banquet of the Lords of Night and Other Stories by Liz Williams, SFF
This is a collection of her short stories.
Message edited by its author, Jul 26, 2009, 10:08pm.
I couldn't just drive home after church. No, there was a Barny Noble's brick and mortar. I browsed all the fiction and then some, and I missed a couple on my wishlist that the website says are there.
PsychoBible by Armando Favazza. The author is a psychiatrist. I stipulate that I am mentally ill. Maybe I'll learn about how I misuse the Bible to comfort myself, or maybe I'll learn about
Favazza's prejudices.
The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike. I am the one person who liked the movie
The Witches of Eastwick, and sometimes I like
Updike a whole lot, so I thought that reading the sequel was in order.
How Green Was My Valley by
Richard Llewellyn. This book was published just a few years before I was born; in other words it has been around all my life. It is time to read it.
The Big Sky by
A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Seems pretty 'Merican to me.
Flatterland by Ian Stewart. I read
Flatland back when I expected to be a mathematician. This expands some of those ideas to be congruent with modern cosmology. This will be religious reading for me, or a disappointment.
Robert
I bought Widows... but somehow gave it to my sister to read first... she has not yet done so.. I guess I have to console myself with other TBR selections :)
OK, there may still be dozens of books from the last two months waiting to be LT-ed, but since it's my lunch break I'll add today's two anyway. I popped into town to go to the market and the bank and just 'happened' to fall through the door of the Mind charity shop (it's actually a bit of a detour, but it was a really BIG fall, okay!). Anyways, I was very happy to find a nice copy of
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, as well as a quirky travel book called (*pause while she digs it out of her bag again*)
Swahili for the Brokenhearted by Peter Moore. Fabulous.
ellie, is the name of the shop Mind Charity Shop? What a great name.
I found an article today perfect for this thread. "The magical, mystical path linking book and reader." Enjoy.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/l...I picked up The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane this weekend and looking forward to getting to it as soon as possible
#186 - Thanks for the article emaestra. My magical, mystical path to books is right here - LT! :)
two today...
one from PBS:
a complicated kindness by Miriam Toews
and an ARC...from whence i'm not sure:
hush hush by Becca Fitzpatrick...not sure about this one....
Four books from my Alibris order just arrived.
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
Kartography by Kamila Shamsie
The Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan
The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara
All were discovered through LT readers. How I love LT!
Not so long ago I ordered six different books from six different vendors through ABE Books. I went out first thing this morning to try to buy a newspaper. There were none in the rack, but, just as I was noticing that, the mailman drove up, long before he was due, and said he had something for me.
Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen. One of the few books belonging to my parents that I actually read. I thought it might be good enough to read again.
Robert
emaestra - Yes, it's Mind charity shop - Mind is a mental health charity which is always appropriate for me, being seemingly unable to escape from being, well, a bit mental.
Great article, btw - especially the poetic part at the beginning. It reminded me a bit of Daniel Sempere in
The Shadow of the Wind being drawn to that particular book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and how he could feel its history and the way it seemed to place itself into his hands rather than him choosing it consciously.
Speaking of books placing themselves in my hands, the first three books from my mega shop-a-thon arrived this morning, yay! Since we're open seven days a week now and don't have time to use the supermarket properly, I decided I might as well used my accumulated Nectar points to buy a couple of books. So this morning
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society arrived as a little present for Mum who - having never heard of it until now - was told she MUST read it by a customer last week. I decided to check out a couple of the series I hear so often praised on LT and ordered
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich and
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke for myself!
Still to come: four from Amazon marketplace (I think) and a good selection from Amazon itself, bought with my accumulated mass of vouchers...
one from PBS:
Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris...i have wanted to read her work for many years..and i found a few titles on PBS..so.....
From an ABE Books order, three different packages:
The Mahabharata: An Inquiry in the Human Condition by
Chaturvedi Badrinath.
The Mahabharata is endlessly fascinating, and for that alone I can use all of the discussion I can get. Also the translations into English are moving very slowly, so if I want to stay on subject I need secondary literature. But I supposedly have the second half of book six on its way to me.
The Kingdom of the Franks by
Peter Lasko. What happened way back when? This book was recommended somewhere here as answering some of that question.
Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness edited by
Marcel Kuijsten. I read
Julian Jaynes's big book a long time ago. I took no stand on whether the book was important, but it has held the attention of a lot of people for sometime now. When a commentary on it was mentioned here I thought I might like to follow up on it.
I think I should go to a bookstore to look for
Encountering God, but I think I'll take a nap instead.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 6:53pm.
Received
What Happens in London by Julia Quinn today from PBS.
Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 8:19pm.
alas.. even though I was determined to NOT buy books this week.. Borders.. sent a COUPON! I picked up
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. I loved
Garden Spells by the same author. Also Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - has been recommended by so many folks here on LT.
Three of my Amazon Marketplace orders arrived today -
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and What it Feels Like edited by A.J. Jacobs, which looks to be fascinating... what does it feel like to be struck by lightning? Caught up in a tornado? Walk on the moon? Be bitten by a shark? All short pieces written by people who've been there, done that, to share their once-in-a-lifetime experience with the curious reader. The last item was the fantastic DVD 'James Dean: The Movie', starring James Franco (aka Harry Osborne in 'Spiderman'). It's absolutely wonderful - the likeness and mannerisms are uncanny - and made me want to push my bios of old Jimmy right to the top of my TBR list AND finally get those movies on shiny new DVD...
I'm starting my two new book club books this week:
Enemy Women and
A Room with a View. I think Enemy Women will be great, but I'm not sure I'll like Forster's novel.
I got these books at the local B&N and Borders.
From Borders:
Three Men in a Boat /Three Men on a Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome, Fiction
This is an omnibus edition with the 2 books. They are from Victorian times, and I am not crazy about old fashioned writing. But one of my favorite books
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis is supposed to be based on or a homage to Three Men in a Boat. It is supposed to be funny, and so I decided get the book that had 2 stories in it.
The High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain, Fantasy
Book 3 in the
Green Rider series.
Death's Daughter by Amber Benson, Urban Fantasy
Start of a series about the actual daughter of Death who gets sucked into the family business when her old man is kidnapped. This is the start of the
Calliope Reaper-Jones series. It is also a RL book group read.
From B&N:
Moon Flights by Elizabeth Moon, SF
A collection of her SF short stories.
Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams, Space Opera
Wacky SF and Fantasy story, magic, swords, technology, talking cats, religion, war.
The Papyrus by Robert Hardaway, Historical/Modern Thriller
Set in the modern day and concerning ancient Egypt. It concerns a papyrus that is cause for murder and secrecy. Might be self-published.
Mahu Vice by Neil S. Plakcy, Mystery
Book 4 in the
Kimo Kanapa'aka series. Mysteries set in Hawaii, following police officer Kimo and his family. He is openly gay and the stories also deal with his life as a gay man.
American Rust was just delivered to me. It is in the Top 5 of my TBR pile. It sounds like a good one.
I bought two books from the National Theatre Bookshop in London this afternoon:
The Observer by
Matt Charman (the transcript of the play I saw this afternoon)
Intimacy by Hanif
KureishiI'm meeting with some other book bloggers when I go to California next week and authors
Katie Alender and
Jennie Nash may be joining us as well, so I went out and bought copies of
Bad Girls Don't Die and
The Last Beach Bungalow today. I want to get them both signed, and I hadn't read any of Jennie's books yet, so I want to do that before I meet her.
The postal web site said that my package from Barny Noble had been picked up in New Jersey Tuesday night, but it didn't mention that it had got anywhere. I decided, anyway, to check the mailbox before my nap, and there it was.
The Complete Ripley Novels by
Patricia Highsmith. (The touchstone worked on the first save, but went away when I corrected Bhishma's name, so here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/4773850...) I knew I would get back to her someday, then the set came out, then a combination of coupons and discounts made the set a bargain, and hoo-ray!
Mahabharata Book Six (Volume 2): Bhishma (Clay Sanskrit Library) translated by
Alex Cherniak. (For lack of a touchstone:
http://www.librarything.com/work/8684480...) Finally I can move on a little in the
Mahabharata.
A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1 and
A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 2 by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. Matters of fascination for me by an author whom I have read and trust. I have been talking with some churchmates over the past couple of years about the great commandment of Jesus. The second volume of these is subtitled
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself; I thought that was a bit of fortuitous good fortune.
On Deep History and the Brain by
Daniel Lord Smail. The notion of deep history appeals to me right off as a religious pursuit. This looked respectable and able to improve me, so here it is. Onto every parade a little rain must fall; without any mention in the books description on-line or, as it turns out, on the cover of the book, this book is a large print version for which I paid extra and needn't have.
Robert
Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2009, 6:30pm.
>217: Bridget770- I just thought
American Rust was just OK! I hope you like it a bit better.
>217
i really loved
American Rust....not so much as Literature (i think Mr Meyer has a better novel in him..in future) as ...experience..if that makes sense..i posted a review of this book..it's worth the time but don't expect Steinbeck..
Today I picked up a copy of
Harare North by Brian Chikwava, which I had ordered from the London Review Bookshop earlier this week.
From the public library system:
The Jones Men by
Vern E. Smith a re-read; 1st read in the 70s
On the Nature of Things De Rerum Natura
by Lucretius
The Universe in an Atom by the Dalai Lama
King Richard II (Shakespeare)
Cymbeline (Shk.) These last 2 as re-reads; though I hardly remember anything from a reading of "Cymbeline" years ago.
The Last of the Indian* Wars by
Forbes ParkhillThe Eyre* Affair by
Jasper Fforde*an "alternate past" written in this decade, and taking place in 1985 -- a 1985 in which chronology is hopelessly out of whack, time travel is frequent, and "writing" fraudulent "undiscovered" works by classic authors is frequent.
* referring to the Ute Indians of the WW I era
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